Making a Mosaic Table

My friend Leslie and I made our first mosaic table together! We took one of those really inexpensive wood tables (round, with three detachable legs) from Target and made it look really different.

Supplies:
Table to put mosaic on
Work surface and newspaper to protect work surface
Glass pepples (avail. at craft shops) – we used clear, white, and shades of blue
Mosaic glue
Mosaic grout (we used a black pre-mixed grout, which was super-easy)
Popsicle sticks (or some other straight piece to help spread the grout evenly)
Sponge
Bucket with water (so you’re not putting grout down the sink when you start to clean)
Paint for underside and/or legs
Sponge brush (those $.30 black sponge brushes to apply paint and varnish)
Clear varnish for use on outdoor pieces

First, we decided on doing a swirl pattern, so we started laying the pebbles on the table (without gluing yet) just to get the idea of how to lay it out.

Next, we used mosaic glue to anchor the pebbles onto the table. We waited a few hours for the glue to dry…then we started applying the grout. We used a popsicle stick to make the grout even over the entire surface. It’s really important to get it deeply into all the voids between pebbles

We waited 15 minutes, then started wiping it all off with the sponge. We would rinse the sponge in our bucket, then go back to wiping.

One thing I learned while doing this is that you want the mosaic to be uniform all around the edge.

I waited 24 hours and then painted the underside of the table with black paint using my sponge brush. I can’t decide whether to paint the legs or not, though! Since this table is going outside and the rocking chairs on my porch are their natural wood color, I’m wondering how I want to do those…I may just stain the legs for outside protection.

After a couple of days, when the grout had enough time to completely set, I varnished the top of the table to protect it from the weather. Here’s how it looks!